Time to ponder

HERE is something to take your mind off the novel coronavirus
pandemic that has overwhelmed the globe. I would like to take you to
another world — the world of education. It is too early to speculate
about the post-virus age. We can, however, use the opportunity provided
by the lockdown to ponder issues pertaining to education. The fact is
that they have never received much thought.

Covid-19 has badly disrupted education here, with schools, colleges
and universities being shut since the end of February and examinations
postponed. All education-related activities, such as workshops and
conferences involving a cluster, have been cancelled.

Some positive outcomes have, however, been reported. Here I shall
mention three that I have learnt about. Conceptually, they sound like
good propositions. Their effectiveness would depend on how they are
implemented.

— The government recently announced that PTV’s three channels would
telecast lessons for children. Since I have not watched any myself —
assuming they have started — I cannot comment on them. I know from past
experience that television has been used as an agent to transmit
knowledge and information in many countries, including Pakistan.
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It’s a matter of concern that most children are enjoying their unexpected break.

— Some private schools are holding classes online, including via
Skype. That has proved to be an innovative idea and the children are
enjoying the new experience.

— Another project that I was told about is called ‘Education Karachi’
that has used WhatsApp to offer an e-learning crash course for
Intermediate Science students free of charge. These are pre-recorded
lectures by various speakers.

What cannot be overemphasised is that these facilities are at best
interim measures that can complement full-time schooling. Besides, they
can only be used by elite schools. E-learning can be made more widely
available to the less endowed, but it is limited by students’ economic
constraints. The fact is that most children have been left to fend for
themselves.

What should be of concern, though it is not surprising, is that most
children are enjoying their unexpected break. Their lack of interest in
studies, especially by those who are enrolled in public-sector schools,
is very striking. For them, the virus has brought a welcome escape from
the dullness and monotony of school and exams.

This should be a moment for the bureaucracy concerned with education
to ponder: what is wrong with our system? Why can it not even hold the
students’ interest? At least of the majority?

Clues to the answer partly lie in our curriculum. In that respect the
single uniform curriculum promises to be no different. The government
was all set to announce it when the coronavirus shutdown disrupted
public life in Pakistan. So one can say that the matter of the
curriculum has been put on hold for the time being. Believing that the
lockdown and work-from-home protocol should make government officials
more accessible, I sent an SMS to my contact in the Curriculum Council
to seek some clarifications. No reply! Hence I am relying on the report
the Dawn reporter filed for this paper.

The key problem is that we seem to be in a hurry to teach a child
everything we want her to learn from an early age — the preschool and
primary level when her mind and body are not even ready for it. This
makes the start of the education journey a dull and monotonous exercise
for the child. This failure to capture the child’s imagination is an
issue that needs to be investigated to find a solution. This failure to
make studies interesting leads to a lack of motivation in the student.
An unmotivated student will never want to self-learn or participate in
the discourse in the classroom — that is if it exists at all.

This is a major flaw in our education. It emerged from the meeting at
the Prime Minister’s Office last week that the goals of education,
especially at the primary stage, as spelt out in the curriculum, promise
to make education a dull process. The impression one gets is that our
educators’ sole motive is to load the child with technological knowledge
and philosophical teachings of our great leaders, even when these are
beyond her level of comprehension.

At the early stage, the aim should be to give the child a guided freedom to test and try everything around her to help her ultimately develop her reading, writing, cognitive, speaking and numeracy skills. She should be encouraged to experiment with ideas in such a way that she discovers her own potential and uses it to her own satisfaction. Thus, her love for education will blossom and thereafter she will learn to educate herself with minimal guidance from her teacher. In this process, language plays a major role. It must be the mother tongue because that is the language the child is familiar with and will use in the voyage of discovery she will undertake when she is enrolled in school.